you. To save you.” A tight feeling came over me. I glanced around the beach. We were in a cove. In front of us, a rocky hill rose into woods. On either side, black lava rocks formed sheer cliffs. I saw not one person.
Vane tugged at my hair, drawing my attention back to him. “He’s alive. I would know if he weren’t.”
“Then where is he?” I scanned the cliffs.
The shadows where he’d stood before remained dark.
Vane stared at the same cliffs. “It’s done. The story is done. Merlin has to find a new one. Seems this one was meant for me after all.”
I looked down at him. “Will you ever call him Matt?”
White teeth flashed in an unrepentant grin. “It’s one and the same.”
His grin turned wistful. He asked, “Will you always love him?”
“Almost as much as you will.”
He gave me a very male look. “I don’t think I like you knowing me so well. I will have to work harder to distract you.”
I repressed an urge to melt onto him, and instead traced a finger along the hard length of his jaw. “How did you know the Lady accidentally told Matt about the other way?”
“I didn’t. I remembered what Poseidon and I took a chance. She was with Merlin a long time.”
Took a chance. As I had done. “But why did you do it? Why let me take the risk with the apple? Matt wouldn’t.”
“It was what you said in Westminster. We’re human. It’s what we do. And I finally realized, it’s what you would do.” Vane smirked. “I told you I would save you.”
“I saved you.”
Mischief danced in his eyes. “Don’t get cocky.”
He’d said the same thing the night of our first kiss in the basement. I had no intention of listening to him—then or now. I arched a brow. “Then, don’t fall for me.”
“Too late, Dorothy.”
Dorothy. The name rolled off his tongue like the sweetest caress. My lips curving up, I turned to gaze out at the ocean, an open expanse of never-ending water. “Where do you think we are?”
“Home. Camelot. As long as I’m with you, I don’t care.” Catching my hand, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back in an old-fashioned gesture. Just when I began to surrender, he shocked me by sinking his teeth lightly into the skin.
I shivered and looked up at the yellow sun. Our sun. Vane understood me well. Camelot had always been here. At Home. A figure lurked in the shadows. It pushed back green fronds at the base of the cliff and walked slowly down to the beach. He came closer. I cried out happily. Grey.
He waved at me. I moved to get up.
Fingers wound tightly in my curls. Vane’s legs tangled around mine, holding them in place. “You belong to me.”
“Yes.”
With a tug, he flipped me over. I sunk into damp sand. His muscled body completely enveloped mine, and lips grazed up along a tender column of my neck. He bit an earlobe, causing me to buck under him. He demanded, “Tell me you love me.”
My heart filling at the hint of urgency in his voice, I said, “You know I do.”
He added, “Vane.”
I put my hands on his stubbled jaw, reveling in the way the rough bristles prickled the soft skin of my palm. It was real. He was real. I replied, “I love you, Vivane.”
He smiled, a sweet smile. It held a hint of the boy in the cottage, the one beneath all those red-stained layers who still survived. I pressed closer to him.
He would never be alone again. And neither would I.
***
I lost her. I watched them from the shadows.
I got my brother in return.
That I didn’t regret the exchange may have been why I lost her.
I shrank back when she glanced in my direction. Under me, Grey walked from the base of the cliff and onto the beach. He’d go to her instead.
Beyond him, I saw others. An upside down truck—its passengers shaken but unharmed. Regulars, wizards, mermaids, and gargoyles wandered the woods. I suspected some of those drawn into the tornado had crossed the mist to another world, while some were dumped here. Like lost ducklings, a few of those wandering below would seek the beach and wait to be shepherded back. Others would turn and find the city on the other side. I glanced over rainbow-covered mountains, painted surfboards on crowded sand, and a resort’s well-maintained beaches. I recognized the spot. A picture of this place hung in Sylvia’s